Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion
| Episode no. = 5.6 | Season no. = 5 | Guest(s) = | Writer(s) = Dan Dratch | Director = David Grossman | Airdate = August 11, 2006 | Prev = Mr. Monk, Private Eye | Next = Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink |}} Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion is the sixth episode of the fifth season of Monk. Synopsis Monk attends his college reunion and uncovers a complex murder plot against one of his former classmates. Plot At an apartment building, retired nurse Katherine Rutherford is going to use the elevator only to discover that it is apparently out of order again, so she's going to use the stairs instead. Unbeknownst to her, Kyle Brooks rips off the sign, and follows her. After he asks as to whether she is Nurse Rutherford, Kyle tells her that she, unfortunately, knows his wife. Before she could ask, Kyle suddenly hurls her down the stairs and then breaks a necklace near the stairwell. The next morning, Captain Stottlemeyerand Lieutenant Disherare investigating her death. Disher states that apparently, the victim, Katherine Rutherford, had slipped on some beads from a necklace of hers that broke and was killed as a result of falling down the stairs. When Stottlemeyer questioned whether the elevator was broken, Disher isn't completely sure. Stottlemeyer then questions one of the police members as to whether there were any beads down near the area she was at, and they respond that there weren't any. Stottlemeyer then realizes that she couldn't have slipped on the beads, as they would have rolled away if she did. He then places what remained of "her" necklace around her neck, only to discover that it doesn't fit her neck. Realizing that she was actually murdered, he tells them to lock down the apartment as it has increased into a homicide investigation. One of the policemen then discovers a lapel pin under her. Disher recognizes the pin, but fails to remember where he saw it. It then flashes to Adrian Monk wearing a similar pin on his suit, revealing that Monk was at a college reunion at Berkley. Natalie Teeger wonders if Monk is sure if he wants to do this without her, and he states that he's positive, and he cried for Trudy the previous night. Natalie then wonders why he's called "Captain Cool" on his invitation, to which Monk responds that it was his nickname. He then arrives at the line where he encounters an old friend of his: Diane Sooner, now known as Diane Brooks. After catching up on each others lives, as well as allowing her to write her submission form on his back, he learns that her husband, Kyle Brooks, was dying to meet him. After arriving at the area where the class of 1981 was to gather, the woman in charge of the festivities explains briefly what the lapel pins are for. Monk later feels like an outsider in the campus as he realizes that most of the "friends" only remembered Trudy, and only remembered Adrian as the "guy with Trudy." Meanwhile, Natalie is outside preparing to leave, when she encounters another person coming to the reunion, and realizes she took something that Monk might need. She explains she's with Adrian Monk, AKA Captain Cool. The man knows who Captain Cool is. As Natalie is preparing to leave, she learns that Monk's nickname did not originate from his being "cool," but rather because he spent every weekend defrosting his refrigerator. Meanwhile, Monk is catching up with an acquaintance during college, although he had a few different philosophies from Monk (namely about moving on with their dead wives). Natalie then returns to Monk. Disher then remembers where he had seen the lapel pin: Monk was wearing the same pin all week for his reunion. He also explains that Rutherford worked at Berkeley's clinic for 20 years before retirement. As she wouldn't wear the lapel pin due to her never graduating, that means that the pin belonged to the killer. This means that the killer is with Monk for the college reunion. Meanwhile, Monk is reluctant to stay for the college reunion due to the truth being that he, amongst his peers, was unremembered for anything aside from being "the man with Trudy." When Natalie asks why his name was on the spit shield, he explains that they didn't have any when he was at college. She initially thinks that he had donated them all, until he explains that it was more similar to a lawsuit. Diane Brooks then meets up with them, and after being introduced to Natalie, she saves them a seat. They show him photos, and Monk learns that despite Kyle Brooks being anxious to meet Monk, he apparently was unaware that he was a former detective, or even a detective at all. He also remembers that she used to own a dog named Tangerine (originally, it was a poodle, but the picture indicates that the new one is a bull mastiff.). Kyle then explains that he found it at the shelter, where it coincidentally had the name Tangerine. Monk senses that something is very suspicious about Kyle Brooks, and his relationship with Diane Brooks, as the chances of the same person owning two dogs, 25 years apart, apparently not even have the same color, and yet have the same name of Tangerine is extremely small (As Monk puts it, the chances of it happening are one in a million, maybe one in a trillion at most), as well as the fact that, despite Kyle being extremely anxious to meet Monk, he is unaware of his status as a detective. Natalie then tries to distract him by having him show her his old dorm room. He prepares to show her until he discovers that there is a tie on the doorknob. Apparently, Monk's roommate used that same trick when it comes down to cleaning their closets. He then recognizes an old friend in the student lounge: the Fridge he defrosted before. He then decides to defrost the fridge (which had a wall of snow building up). He is in the middle of defrosting the fridge when Stottlemeyer walks in. The Captain mentions that he was looking for them, and was about to give up until he heard some clowns downstairs say that there was a man defrosting the fridge. Stottlemeyer then debriefs them on the homicide investigation on Katherine Rutherford's murder. Disher then explains that they have a suspect: Henry Kalimarakis. Monk remembers him from the Swim Team, and he holds a grudge against her because his dreams for participating in the Olympics were shattered after she ID-ed him positive on Steroid use. Monk then shows Natalie the library, which is special for him because that was where he met Trudy. He then explains that he also remembers her phone number due to his sensitive skin absorbing her boyfriend's attempts at writing it down. He also wonders why she went with him instead of the boyfriend, who is now a famous heart surgeon. Monk and Natalie then re-encounter Diane Brooks, who feels horrible at Nurse Rutherford's death. Suddenly Kyle Brooks appears behind them with a woman named Gertrude, but nicknamed "Trudy". He offers to take them to Rocco's (Monk goes reluctantly due to Kyle in essence persuading him to go, as he has bad memories of that restaurant, especially considering how he saw a hot dog on a rotary the last time he went). Meanwhile, late at night, he calls someone on his cell phone. Apparently, his persuading Monk, Diane, Gertrude and Natalie to come to Rocco's is part of an insidious plot to kill Diane for money, and that the only thing he has left to do is play a game of touch football with them. The Next day, and the final day of the reunion, Natalie suggests to Monk that they go see a Chess Club meet, only for Monk to ask if she's ever actually been to a Chess Club. Meanwhile, at the clinic, Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher are investigating through Rutherford's files, and the clerk recognizes Stottlemeyer from somewhere, until Stottlemeyer explains that he was at the campus for a No Nukes protest in the 1970s. Disher then crosses out Henry as being the number one suspect, as he no longer had a motive for killing her, as he joined the Olympics as an alternative, he died in 1995, and there was no record of him ever returning to the United States after moving to Europe in the 1980s. However, Stottlemeyer explains that he would have started with Number two first. As there was no record of complaints against her by people in the campus, their business in the clinic is done. Monk, Stottlemeyer, Natalie, and Disher then talk with Diane (as she sent the wreath to the clinic dedicated to her.). Diane explains that Rutherford saved her life: During her senior year, she nearly committed suicide. Monk remembers that that was the year her mother died. She wrote a suicide note and took 53 white pills before Rutherford stopped her and called 911. Kyle then appears and asks if they would play some touch football, as some guys on campus challenged him (although in actuality, he challenged them.). Disher also wants to play, until he is reminded that he was supposed to be solving the homicide case. Monk, after some difficulty, eventually picks up the football, and despite his not playing football (he's not a fan of contact sports for obvious reasons), he shows surprising agility allowing for him to win a point for his team. Kyle then dedicates Diane to be the quarter back, telling her to keep her eye on him. She then throws the ball towards him, only for it to break a window near the post, with Kyle claiming he accidentally missed the ball. She explains that it feels weird as she also broke a window during senior year. During the dinner, Monk tells Natalie that Kyle missed on purpose, and he definitely sees something strange about him, and it isn't eccentrism. Unbeknownst to anyone, Kyle slips in a drug into Diane's champagne glass. Stottlemeyer briefly interrupts the slide show to ask for the audiences help in solving the homicide investigation of Katherine Rutherford. However, some pictures of a No Nukes rally appear on screen, along with Stottlemeyer in riot gear, causing him to be booed offstage (despite telling them that one picture alone won't be enough to describe what he's like as well as the fact that he was subduing a guy because the permit expired at noon (12:06, more specifically). Diane then leaves for the hotel due to apparently feeling ill. Half an hour later, while at the remains of the dining hall, Natalie realizes that she forgot to give back Diane's earrings. Stottlemeyer then recognizes the earrings, and asks her for an earring. He compares them with photos from the crime scene, and then notices that they are from the same set. Monk then realizes what must be happening, and solves the case, as well as rushing to the registration station. Here's what Happened Kyle and Diane had recently moved, and at some point while unpacking their things, he discovered her personal papers, including her suicide note. He realizes that with the note, he could kill her with impunity as it was in her handwriting as well as no one questioning it. However, certain things in her note, such as her dog Tangerine, breaking the glass at the quad, and eating at Rocco's with Adrian Monk and Trudy Ellison, just couldn't be done with the note alone, so he spent the week recreating parts of Diane's life to match the note, so that when her note was discovered, no one would get suspicious. The reason why he killed Katherine Rutherford was because only she would have identified the suicide as being faked, due to her having read the note 25 years prior when saving her from a real attempted suicide. They arrive too late at the registration station, as the sheets are gone. However, Monk recalls where she's staying and most of her information due to writing the registration form on his back. After some difficulty (partly due to writing in cursive, and partly due to Monk's tendency to read everything and getting confused about the "bottom" of the page where the hotel was written down.), they track down the hotel as being the Blakemore Hotel, which is luckily just up the street, and they manage to subdue Kyle Brooks save Diane Brooks from being dropped down the balcony at the last second. After saving her, she finds her suicide note near her bed stand, and realizes and glares at her husband, or rather, her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Monk then walks by the bench where he and Trudy first kissed, and recalls the event. 5.06